shocking official report into the rise of the BigBrother state has
warned.
The microchips - which are implanted under the skin - allow the
wearer's movements to be tracked and store personal information about
them.
They couldbe used by companies who want to keep tabs on an employee's
movements or by Governments whowant a foolproof way of identifying
their citizens - and storing information about them.
Theprospect of 'chip-citizens' - with its terrifying echoes of George
Orwell's 'Big Brother'police state in the book 1984 - was raised in an
official report for Britain's InformationCommissioner Richard Thomas
into the spread of surveillance technology.
The report, drawn upby a team of respected academics, claims that
Britain is a world-leader in the use ofsurveillance technology and its
citizens the most spied-upon in the free world.
It paints afrightening picture of what Britain might be like in ten
years time unless steps are taken toregulate the use of CCTV and other
spy technologies.
The reports editors Dr David MurakamiWood, managing editor of the
journal Surveillance and Society and Dr Kirstie Ball, an Open
University lecturer in Organisation Studies, claim that by 2016 our
almost every movement,purchase and communication could be monitored by
a complex network of interlinking surveillancetechnologies.
The most contentious prediction is the spread in the use of Radio
FrequencyIdentification (RFID) technology.
The RFID chips - which can be detected and read by radio waves- are
already used in new UK passports and are also used the Oyster card
system to accessthe London Transport network.
For the past six years European countries have been using RFIDchips to
identify pet animals.
Already used in America
However, its use in humans hasalready been trialled in America, where
the chips were implanted in 70 mentally-ill elderlypeople in order to
track their movements.
And earlier this year a security company in Ohiochipped two of its
employees to allow them to enter a secure area. The glass-encased chips
were planted in the recipients' upper right arms and 'read' by a device
similar to a creditcard reader.
In their Report on the Surveillance Society, the authors now warn: "The
callfor everyone to be implanted is now being seriously debated."
The authors also highlight theGovernment's huge enthusiasm for CCTV,
pointing out that during the 1990s the Home Office spent78 per cent of
its crime prevention budget - a total of £500 million - on installing
thecameras.
There are now 4.2 million CCTV cameras in Britain and the average
Briton is caughton camera an astonishing 300 times every day.
This huge enthusiasm comes despite official HomeOffice statistics
showing that CCTV cameras have 'little effect on crime levels'.
Theywrite: "The surveillance society has come about us without us
realising", adding: "Some of itis essential for providing the services
we need: health, benefits, education. Some of it ismore questionable.
Some of it may be unjustified, intrusive and oppressive."
YesterdayInformation Commissioner Richard Thomas, whose office is
investigating the Post Office, HSBC,NatWest and the Royal Bank of
Scotland over claims they dumped sensitive customer details inthe
street, said: "Many of these schemes are public sector driven, and the
individual hasno choice over whether or not to take part."
"People are being scrutinised and having theirlives tracked, and are
not even aware of it."
He has also voiced his concern about theconsequences of companies, or
Government agencies, building up too much personal informationabout
someone.
He said: "It can stigmatise people. I have worries about technology
beingused to identify classes of people who present some kind of risk
to society. And I think thereare real anxieties about that."
Yesterday a spokesman for civil liberties campaigners Libertysaid: "We
have got nothing about these surveillance technologies in themselves,
but it istheir potential uses about which there are legitimate fears.
Unless their uses are regulatedproperly, people really could find
themselves living in a surveillance society.
"There is arather scary underlying feeling that people may worry that
these microchips are less aboutbeing a human being than becoming a
barcoded product."
Don't say you weren't warned! This has been planned for a long, long time and has to be stopped.